UNH hockey team denied trip to Frozen Four

Sunday

Mar 28, 2010 at 2:00 AM

ALBANY, N.Y. — The inconsistency that has plagued the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team throughout the season emerged at the worst possible time Saturday night, and the Wildcats paid a heavy price.

AL PIKE

ALBANY, N.Y. — The inconsistency that has plagued the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team throughout the season emerged at the worst possible time Saturday night, and the Wildcats paid a heavy price.

One win away from a berth in the Frozen Four, they succumbed to a second-period meltdown that hastened the end of their season.

Rochester Institute of Technology scored twice in 13 seconds and three times in a little more than a minute and a half in the second period to rip open a tie game. At that juncture the fourth-seeded Tigers were in control and well on their way to a 6-2 win in the final of the East Regional at the Times Union Center.

"A couple minutes in the second period and our whole season turned around," said UNH coach Dick Umile.

RIT, which moved up to Division I five years ago and qualified for the NCAA D-I tournament for the first time, advanced to its first Frozen Four, which takes place a little less than two weeks from now in Detroit.

With the teams deadlocked 1-1 in the second period, the Tigers erupted for three quick goals, including two 13 seconds apart that seemed to deflate the third-seeded Wildcats (18-14-7), who came into the game on a high after beating No. 2 Cornell, 6-2, Friday in one of their better performances of the season.

UNH trailed 4-1 entering the third period Saturday.

"The emotion hadn't really hit me," said senior co-captain Peter LeBlanc. "We were still hoping to get back in the game. There was still some time left in the second period to come back. In the third period with time winding down it starts to hit you that it's going to be a pretty tall mountain to climb."

The Wildcats couldn't duplicate the effort of the previous night against a loose bunch of Tigers (28-11-1), who extended the nation's longest winning streak to 12 games. Before the game RIT players were wearing T-shirts with a saying on the back — "Fear the Streak."

The confident Tigers then took the ice and delivered.

"They were coming at us," said senior co-captain Bobby Butler, who was named to the all-tournament team. "We just weren't getting the bounces and they did a good job burying our mistakes."

UNH never seemed in a rhythm offensively, particularly in the second period when the Wildcats were outshot, 18-6, with three getting past goalie Brian Foster.

"We didn't play our best game in the second period, that's for sure," Umile said. "They frustrated us and we didn't respond very well."

RIT proved it was for real Friday night after taking down No. 1 seed Denver, 2-1.

With the scored tied 1-1 in the second period Saturday, goals by Tyler Brenner (13:23), Brent Alexin (13:36) and Stevan Matic (14:47) left the Wildcats reeling.

"It's tough to come back from that," LeBlanc said. "It was disheartening."

All three goals came from close range — one on a rush, one on a rebound, and one on a goalmouth scramble as the Wildcats were hurt by poor end-zone coverage.

It happened again midway through the third period when Brenner scored his second goal from the left faceoff circle to make it 5-1. Four unanswered goals gave RIT a cushion that was too tough for UNH to overcome.

"They were aggressive," Umile said. "Give them credit. They stayed after it. They're a pretty good transition team. They're quick. It happened so fast. We've done it a couple times this season. It's disappointing that it happened to us tonight."

"UNH is a very dangerous team on the transition," said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. "The fact that we got the game a little bit out of reach made it a bit more comfortable."

It was an evenly played first period and that was reflected in the score. The teams were tied 1-1 after one period.

Like Friday night, the Wildcats fell behind 1-0 when RIT defenseman Chris Haltigin beat goalie Brian Foster with a shot from the right point at 14:10.

UNH pulled even with less than a minute left in the first period when Phil DeSimone redirected Brett Kostolansky's drive from the left point with 19:01 remaining.

That was it for the Wildcats until Blake Kessel scored with 2:29 remaining in the third period to make it 5-2, although Paul Thompson nearly put UNH ahead early in the second period. But his backhander from in tight hit the cross bar.

"There's a fine line between winning and losing," Umile said. "It happened so quick in the second period. We've (come back) a couple times before so it wasn't over going into the third period. But we needed to score early."

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